Captain Pauline Gower of the Women's Air Transport Auxiliary 1941

This is an intriguing, monochromatic drawing by Ethel Léontine Gabain, and it imagines Captain Pauline Gower of the Women's Air Transport Auxiliary. Just look at the cross-hatching that builds up to describe the volume of the figure, creating something that is both representational but also abstract. What might Gabain have been thinking as she made this portrait? As the strokes of ink accumulated, she seems to have been finding form out of a sea of marks. The woman becomes knowable, but so does the texture of the world around her, as the crisp geometry of the plane contrasts with the pilot's soft features. Drawing, like painting, is a form of embodied expression, isn't it? It embraces ambiguity and uncertainty, allowing for multiple interpretations and meanings. Gabain offers not a definitive reading but a glimpse into a particular moment in time that remains open to interpretation.